Many existing shoring practices for repairing and/or replacing parts of an airplane require that support equipment such as body cradles be disposed against various portions of the airplane, and additionally require the use of support equipment comprising horizontal stabilizing units. This support equipment is used to support the airplane via the airplane's airframe structure in order keep the airplane off of the ground to facilitate maintenance tasks. In these existing shoring practices, the rigidity of the airplane is primarily dependent upon the airframe structure. For this reason, there is a limit to the amount of airframe structure that can be removed simultaneously. Exceeding these limits will result in deformation and overload of the airframe, which will render the airplane un-airworthy. Often, due to airplane constraints and/or loading limits, additional load bearing supports at other locations are not allowed. When lower fuselage skin panels are replaced, stabilizing beams are often extended through the airplane's windows to allow the cradles to be removed in order to gain access to the lower skin panels. During the replacement procedure the operator must, often in a restricted sequential order, disassemble the upper fuselage lap joints, disassemble the upper fuselage stringer attach points, replace the side window panels, and replace the lower fuselage skin panels. During this procedure, the upper panels often cannot be replaced simultaneously with the lower panels as these panels are required to maintain the airframe alignment since the airplane is being supported by the airframe structure. This process may be inefficient, difficult, timely, and/or costly. In addition, removal of structural components out of sequence, or in too high of quantity, may overload the airframe and render the airplane as un-airworthy and/or un-repairable.
An apparatus and method for use is needed which may solve one or more problems in existing shoring practices to allow more structural components to be removed/replaced simultaneously while maintaining airframe integrity and airworthiness requirements.